Published inPrototypr·Feb 4, 2021Designing at a Startup vs Designing at a Big CompanyMost of my career I’ve worked for startups or small agencies. I wanted to take the leap to a bigger company, so decided to go work at a large retail brand for 2 or 3years. It was hugely eye opening for me. It’s when I realised that the role and…Design5 min readDesign5 min read
Published inPrototypr·Nov 18, 2020Stop Estimating Your Design WorkHuman beings are terrible at guessing. Our ability to estimate is awful because we’re biased creatures. Our inclinations and opinions are vital to our survival. But these make us bad at estimating things. In my role as a design leader, estimations are always part of the job. I spend a…Design3 min readDesign3 min read
Mar 4, 2020Stop designing screens. Start doing this instead.Reading technology has come a long way. A few thousand years ago, the first books were comprised of clay slab tablets, which were replaced by scrolls and parchment. When Johan Gutenberg invited the printing press [date], the written word on paper as a means of mass communication exploded. It exploded…UI4 min readUI4 min read
Feb 20, 2020Member-onlyThe old agency model is dead.Businesses are getting higher and higher customer demands. Doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you’re competing against the likes of Uber, AirBnb and Apple because that level of user experience and constant innovation is now the new normal. …Design Thinking2 min readDesign Thinking2 min read
Nov 27, 2019Venture Capital for the PeopleThis week, 163 leading academics and economists including Thomas Pikkety wrote a letter to Financial Times to support Labour’s radical economic plan for the country. The lamented the poor state of Britain’s economy, the injustice of austerity and called for an ‘a serious injection of public investment’. As we cycle…Finance6 min readFinance6 min read
Oct 30, 2019The Scientific Method for BusinessDone well, Design can be a scientific method for making better decisions, faster. — René Descartes stood over a basket of apples. ‘Suppose a man’ he said, ‘had a basket of apples. And he wanted to know which ones which were rotten. Wouldn’t he start by tipping out all the apples and discarding the ones that were rotten? So should we tip out our…Design Sprint6 min readDesign Sprint6 min read
Aug 29, 2019Why do we hate taxes so much?An argument why taxes shouldn’t be an assault on your liberty, but a willing social responsibility to build a better future. The famous idiom goes ‘Nothing is certain in life other than death and taxes’. For a majority of us, those two events seem as bleak and horrible as each…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Jul 30, 2019We don’t need false optimism, we need radically new ideas.As quickly as he bumbled into Downing Street, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson™ was talking about ‘optimism’ and ‘a can do attitude’. It would have been a joyous moment — if we believed him. In reality, the right-wing disaster capitalists see the Brexit crisis as a business opportunity. It’s an…Economics5 min readEconomics5 min read
Jul 9, 2019Workplaces should be a democracy, not a dictatorship.‘The history of human growth and development is at the same time the history of the terrible struggle of every new idea heralding the approach of a brighter dawn. In its tenacious hold on tradition, the Old has never hesitated to make use of the foulest and cruelest means to…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
Jun 27, 2019As we shift politically rightward, accepted liberal ideas become radical. Embrace it.Last week, I heard drive time UK radio station Smooth FM declare John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ as number 1 in it’s Top 100 Best Songs. For what seems like the 5th year running. Hardly surprising, in a country that religiously worships Del Boy falling through the bar as the most hilarious…Politics4 min readPolitics4 min read
